Tahawwur Rana was on Thursday held not guilty on charges of involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks by a United States federal court which convicted him for providing material support to Pakistan-based terror group LeT and for plotting an attack in Denmark.
India has approached the United States seeking access to Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistani Canadian accused in the Mumbai terror attack case, and a reply in this regard is expected next month.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Mumbai attacks co-accused, had an ambitious plan to enter Bollywood by launching Rahul Bhatt, son of film director Mahesh Bhatt, in a movie that he wanted to make.
The trial of Pakistani-Canadian Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Tahawwur Rana, co-accused with David Headley in the 26/11 case, is set to begin in Chicago on May 16. If insiders are to be believed, Rana is likely to implicate Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in the Mumbai terror attacks, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
While the prosecution and defence presented closing arguments in the trial of 26/11 accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistani-Canadian doctor chose to remain silent and did not take to the stand. Rana, a co-accused with David Coleman Headley in the Mumbai terror attacks, did not testify at his trial, as the federal jury was set to begin its deliberations.
India has decided to act quickly and has already sought access to Tahawwur Rana, Pakistani-Canadian accused in 26/11 case, who will go on trial in a United States court on May 16.
In a six-page motion filed in the US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, his lawyer Patrick Blegen sought "particulars" regarding the charge in the indictment that says Rana, a Chicago-based businessman, conspired to provide material support to terrorism in India and Denmark.
Terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, under investigation for possible links to 26/11, has categorically denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, his lawyer said on Monday and asserted that the Pakistani-Canadian "harbours no ill-will" against Indians.
The United States prosecutors on Tuesday sought 30 years' imprisonment for Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted terrorist David Headley, for providing material support to Laskar-e-Tayiba and conspiring for a terror attack on a Danish newspaper.
Pointing at Inter Services Intelligence's direct involvement in providing arms to militants in Kashmir, Tahawwur Rana, one of the key accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Pakistan's spy agency gives weapons to terrorists when they are about to enter the Indian territory.
Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana was on Thursday acquitted by a US court on charges of abetting Mumbai terror attacks but was convicted for providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and helping a terror plot in Denmark.
Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana and his family are in a "state of shock" after the jury found him guilty on two counts of terrorism related charges that could possibly result in a maximum imprisonment of 30 years. "I think he is in shock," Charles Swift, Rana's attorney, told reporters at a news conference soon after the 12-member jury announced its verdict.Rana was found guilty of conspiracy for the terror plot in Denmark.
Pakistani-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Rana under investigation for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has stuck to his 'not guilty' plea to terror charges and is headed for trial, will appear before a US court in Chicago on May 11 for a status hearing in the case.
Pakistani Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, co-accused in the Mumbai terror attack case, was arraigned in Chicago on Thursday for the trial that is set to begin on May 16. Rana's attorney Patrick Blegen told judge Leinenweber that he required time to translate about a 1000 pages of Urdu text in preparation for the trial set for May 16
The FBI on Monday submitted fresh evidence against Pakistan-born terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana alleging that he "knew well in advance" that Lashkar terrorists would strike Mumbai in November 2008.
The rejection by a Chicago court to conduct a retrial plea of Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistani-Canadian accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is a shot in the arm for the Indian agencies who have been looking to question him, says Vicky Nanjappa.
Pakistani-Canadian LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana has appeared in a Chicago court for his arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiring to provide material support to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and a terror plot in Denmark.
The United States government will not appeal against a Chicago court verdict which found Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana not guilty on charges related to his involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. "After sentencing, Rana may appeal his conviction on the two counts, but the government cannot appeal the jury's finding of not guilty on the Mumbai count," said a Justice Department official.
The much hyped-up trial of Pakistani-Canadian 26/11 terror accused Tahawwur Rana has finally come to a close in the United States and one could say with confidence it did not end the way in which many, especially in India, would have expected it to be.
The Indian government on Friday said the verdict in the Tahawwur Rana case in a United States court, holding the Pakistani-Canadian not guilty for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is not a setback. The government said India does not rely overtly on prosecution of terror suspects in other countries.
India is likely to get access to Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistani Canadian accused in the Mumbai terror attack case, after completion of his trial in an American court next month.
The verdict of a United States court holding Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana not guilty of the Mumbai terror attacks would not affect the legal proceedings against terrorist Ajmal Kasab and the charge against Lashkar-e-Tayiba of masterminded the strikes, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said on Friday.
The United States has indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has evidence linking American terror suspect David Coleman Headley and his Pakistani-Canadian accomplice Tahawwur Rana to the deadly Mumbai terror attacks. A FBI team arrived in New Delhi on Sunday to hold discussions with their Indian counterparts, during which it may share information on Headley's links with several people in the country, including those linked to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Mumbai attack terrorist David Headley, who is currently in American custody, has been opposing his further interrogation by Indian investigators.
Rana was arrested in 2009 on the charges of plotting the 26/11 terror attack. Some 166 people, including US nationals, were killed in the attack carried out by 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and hanged after handed down death sentence by an Indian court.
Watching the 2008 Mumbai carnage live from Pakistan, terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba handlers guided the attackers on phone and even asked them to change tactics to challenge the advancing commandos.
With investigators ready to file chargesheet in Headley-Rana case, security agencies have found that the American terror suspect had assets running into crores of rupees in Pakistan, the US and a Gulf nation.
The sentencing of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley is expected to happen only by early next year, after the trial of co-accused Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana is complete, Headley's lawyer said in Chicago.
The government has given its sanction to charge sheet nine people including Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed and two Inter Services Intelligence officers for plotting terror attacks in India including the 26/11 strikes.
A Delhi court on Saturday took cognisance of the National Investigation Agency chargesheet against Pakistani-American David Headley Coleman and eight others for allegedly carrying out several terror attacks in India.
Two years after his role in terror activities surfaced, the National Investigation Agency on Saturday chargesheeted Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed and two Inter-Services Intelligence officers for plotting terror attacks in India including the 26/11 strikes.
"We have asked the Pakistani government to address those allegations in the past," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told media persons when asked about the alleged involvement of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will travel to Islamabad later this month to hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart during which India will raise the issue of nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and the perpetrators of 26/11 attacks, as brought out by the trial of Pakistani-Canadian terrorist Tahawwur Rana in the United States.
After two failed attempts to strike Mumbai in September and October 2008, Pakistani handlers of the 26/11 accused David Headley began planning the attack on India's financial capital "more closely than ever" in early November that year.
Mumbai attacks co-accused David Coleman Headley has testified that he received espionage training against India from Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence.
Marking their second meeting in four months, foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will hold two-day talks in Islamabad from June 23. The Indian side is expected to press for effective action against those behind the 26/11 attacks, including elements in the Inter-Services Intelligence.
Besides the National Defense College in New Delhi, Somnath temple in Gujarat and certain Bollywood stars and Shiv Sena leaders in Mumbai were also the targets of banned LeT, which was planning to carry out strikes with the help of two Chicago-based residents of Pakistani origin, the FBI has said.
India has sought access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, the Mumbai terror attack convict now lodged in a US prison, as it insisted on bringing to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 assault.
Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government of India would not file formal charges against Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley until Ajmal Kasab's trial was over. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The US-based wife of American-born LeT terrorist David Headley and his business partner have "refused" to answer questions posed by NIA, citing a privacy clause.
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